Green card applicants increasingly being arrested at appointments
Katie and Stephen Paul with their infant Photo courtesy GoFundMe Immigration agents have been escalating their tactics including immigration attorneys say arresting people at their own green card appointments A GoFundMe page posted on Sunday described the ordeal of a British woman who was arrested at a routine green card appointment in front of her husband and six-month-old infant Originally from the UK Katie has been working for over a year to build a life here after an unexpected pregnancy with her husband Kate Hastings the GoFundMe organizer says in the description When the Paul family was at her green card interview to go through the process of updating Katie s paperwork she was arrested by ICE However Paul s is hardly the only such arrest For example Norwegian-turned-San Diegan Hanne Daguman was arrested at a spousal green card appointment last week she had apparently let her status briefly lapse last year while planning her wedding View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lisa Giles Therapist Author misunderstood audhd And Jessica McCarthy the wife of ongoing duty Navy sailor Thomas McCarthy had almost finished her U S Citizenship and Immigration Services interview on Nov when ICE agents burst into the room and arrested her Immigration attorneys say that the tactic of arresting people at their own appointments have ramped up sharply since just mid-November and so far seems to be focused on San Diego County People who have in recent days fallen out of status such as Daguman appear to be particularly at threat even if they are actively trying to rectify the issue Before this month out of status was largely overlooked for people who were attending their appointments and interviews in order to receive authorization to live and work in the United States particularly those applying for a spousal green card totally being in the country without a valid visa is a civil violation not a criminal one Katie Paul reportedly admitted to agents that she had briefly overstayed her visa and been unable to check in for appointments due to the unexpected physical effects of a high-risk pregnancy Their child is now without his mother as she sits in confinement treated like a violent criminal when she was following the recommended legal process to bring her paperwork into good order the GoFundMe revealed She was trying to do the right thing and is now being unduly punished for it
